Dade Battlefield State Park
I’ve lived in several places in New England. The land has a
particular feel to it. The land has
deep roots, roots that dig down into the heart of the hills and mountains that
make up the land. Its bones are the
stones that litter the soil and make up the hight of places like Kent falls and
the boulders that I’ve enjoyed hiking up to and dangling my legs over at the
hight of the waterfalls. I live now in a
place just as beautiful yet the polar opposite of New England. While everyone up north thinks of Florida in
terms of heat and sunscreen, the land is more shaped by water than the its lack
of winter temperatures. The water table
is so low there are no basements. And when I kayak it is no longer in a lake,
but along the runs from natural springs, fine sand and crystal clear waters
instead of dark water and river beds full of stones. I do not feel the deep bones of giants here,
but land that was once an ocean long ago, a land whose energy is a mingling of
soil and earth and underground rivers.
The land here was beautiful but alien at first. And so I endeavored to learn its
rhythms. To become friends with the
energies of this new place. So what does
all that have to do with battlefields?
Well besides spending time hiking and visiting the wild places of my new
home, I also spent a lot of time learning the history of this place. And the more I learned the more I discovered
there were quite a lot of battles fought on this soil I was learning to connect
with. From the Seminole Wars with the
native tribes to the Civil War, Florida was no stranger to battle. Many of the sites of these battles have been
preserved as state parks or marked with monuments. And in my research some of the odd names
given to towns and other places in Florida began to make more sense. Like Osceola
county, named after an Indian chief by that name who was a pivotal figure in
the Seminole wars. And both myself and
my other half being devoted to a war goddess, we started to get an idea.
One of the markers at the site of the massacre that began the second Seminole War
For those dedicated to the Morrigan we talk about battle a
great deal. We talk about them in rituals, perhaps reenact our imaginings of
the battles of myths in ritual drama, and spend time conceptualizing what warriorship
means in a modern context. And I will be
the first to say there are about as many opinions on what warriorship, battle
and being devoted to a goddess connected to battle mean (or ought to mean) as
there are Morrigan devotees. We tend to
fight about it a lot. Go figure. For
some its more about the battles they face in life, not a physical battlefield
but one just as brutal. For others they
find a connection in SCA, and others in learning practical self-defense as a
devotional act. I practiced foil fencing
in college, now days I practice self-defense skills at the range. All of which have been personal and
meaningful acts of devotion. My altar
has swords beside it, and yes bullets, both from World War II and from my own
weapon, on the altar. Modern war and old,
side by side. And battlefields less
easier to conceptualize captured in my words written in journals that sit on
the shelves below the altar detailing personal battles and growth over the
years.
I have said before
that in an attempt to make the Morrigan more palatable we have forgotten that
she is a goddess of war. We have “declawed” our war gods to make them more palatable
to our modern morals and tastes. But I wonder, when we do see her as the unabashed
war goddess, what do we see? Do we see only the battle itself? The anger, fear,
chaos of battle? Do we only think of the height of battle, the conflict and the
struggle of it? Whether it is our own battles in life or physical ones? Have we
forgotten also there is more to battle than the actual act of conflict. There is a before and an after. There are the
reasons that we set out for war, and there is the peace or the destruction that
comes after. If the Morrigan is a goddess
of battle, war, and strife in all its contexts then it is not just the battle fervor
that she rules over. She rules of the peace as well. The aftermath of the
battlefield, the destruction that leaves room for new things, and the peace
that comes after. In mythology she both instigates
battles, spurs them on, and it is the Morrigan who also announces the peace, as
we see in the well known prophesy she speaks after the second battle of Moytura.
A statue of Chief Osceola
The more I learned about the battles fought on the land I
was become acquainted with the more I felt there was something important to be
done. I decided I wanted something real,
not a pretend battlefield, not a game. I wanted to honor the land and what had
happened there. I also wanted to
remember why we fight, and not just get caught up in the actual struggles of
the battle itself. War, battle, strife,
isn’t just about the crisis point. In
these places that we began visiting the battles were long over. The bodies buried, the blood long ago soaked
into the land. We fight for the peace
that comes after. It felt important to
honor these places. The people who died
there. On both sides. Because I stood
years and years after, on the ghosts of these battlefield in that peace. It felt important to remember. So my partner and I have been visiting these
battlefields, in state parks, obscure monuments, forgotten out of the way
places. We honor the battlefield. We pour offerings to the mighty dead, pour
offerings to the Great Queen. We honor
the battlefield, we honor the peace, and we recognize what it costs.
The very first
battlefield devotion we did was with a very literal piece of the
battlefield. I had acquired a few 9th-
10th century arrow heads at an auction and made them into pendants.
They are still sharp even after all this time. And so I made offerings, spoke
our prayer over them, these literal representations of the battlefield. Our
other battlefield devotionals will continue as we travel to what remains of the
battlefields in our corner of the world. More to come on these devotional
workings and our travels to come.
The following comes
in part from the Morrigan’s Peace Prophesy with our own words for honoring the
dead and the battlefield.
Síth co nem.
Nem co doman.
Doman fo nim,
Sky to earth.
Earth below sky,
Strength in each
one,
A cup overfull,
filled with honey,
Sufficiency of
renown
Morrigan you who
see all
Who are born in the
blood-zealous vigorous battle,
Hear us we speak to
the blood soaked earth
We speak to the
battlefield
We speak to the
fallen friend and foe alike
The land remembers
and we remember
The clashing of
wills
The hosts giving
battle
The strife of men
May the dead be
honored
May there be peace
Peace as high as
the skies
Summer in winter,
Spears supported by
warriors
Warriors supported
by forts
Strong leaders
Justice when asked
for
Banished are sad
out cries
Peace as high as
the skies
Sky to earth,
strength in everyone
Both the living and
the honored dead
Macha whose harvest
is upon the battlefield may there be peace
Badb who washes the
sorrows of the dead and spurs on the battle, may there be peace
Anu whose sacred
land receives the bodies of the dead may there be peace
Great Queen may we
remember why we sharpen our swords.
That we fight for
the peace that comes after strife
And may we remember
that peace has a price
And may we honor
that price now in this place
Great Queen, Honored dead, accept our offerings.
